Take a constitutional on the Web

The Americans have had their Constitution on the Internet for ages: now our nearest equivalent has finally made it on to the World Wide Web. The British Library has two of the four surviving Magna Cartas of 1215, and has scanned one of them into digital form so that it can be displayed electronically.

The first page gives the whole document. Click on any point, and that section will be magnified. Click again, and the section will become bigger still. When magnification reaches 16 times the original size, the words become easy to read. If, however, your medieval Latin is rusty, an English translation is also available.

To find the Magna Carta, go to http://portico.bl.uk/ and select "current Portico highlights".